Boston Globe, February 2022
In the late 1870′s, an ice cream business was established by the Hinton family in Andover after Allen Hinton had migrated to the town north of Boston during the Civil War from North Carolina. The business was a success, and their daughter, Alice, took over when her parents died. At the National Negro Business League meeting in Boston in 1915, Alice gave a speech called, “How I Have Carried on the Ice Cream Business Established by My Mother and Father,” winning praise from Booker T. Washington, founder of the organization.
The Hinton Family’s story is one of many included in a new online resource called “African Americans in Essex County: An Annotated Guide,” published by the National Park Service, which manages historic sites in Salem and Saugus. The park service released the free guide in February as part of its celebration of Black History Month, which ends today.
